Detox Diaries: My One-Day Detox

A McDonald's-eating detox-newbie goes on her first cleanse. Can she do it? Will she change her fast food-eating ways? Find out

All clear from here It's Day 7, the day before my juice fast, and I'm noticing something extraordinary. Right around the second week of every month, I normally start to break out as a not-so-happy reminder that my period is about to arrive. But today, I realize that my skin is completely clear -- no zit in sight. I talk to Gittleman about this happy side effect of her detox plan and she tells me it's due to all the liver-loving foods I've been eating -- asparagus, celery, and artichokes being three of the biggies.

"The liver is the body's most important filter," she says. "One of its jobs, besides detoxification, is being able to break down hormones into water-soluble metabolites, so they're not toxic to your system." And you guessed it: When those hormones aren't broken down, they cause breakouts that'll remind you of your face back in high school.

Wondering if your liver is compromised? Your body is likely telling you. Gittleman says some signs of distress include acne, indigestion, headaches, sleepiness after eating, weak tendons, and depression. This definitely fit the bill for me before I started this detox. And I have to say, not having to bust out the salicylic acid this week is definitely taking the sting out of giving up some of my favorite foods for the past seven days.

REALLY loving this! I used to be a caffeine addict, but I switched to water in the school where I teach because it has no A/C and is hot year 'round (the heating is very intense and dry in the winter). I realized that I became "addicted" to water and can't really handle caffeine the way I used to; I like that.

Thank you so much for this! You had to deal with a little torture! This sounds like a good detox, but I am one of the people who needs something with my medication (thank you for mentioning that by the way) but the pre-tox sounds interesting!